>> go. get the buddies. >> sometimes the story just needs to be shown. thanks for being with us. here now "the situation room" and wolf blitzer. rick, thanks very much. happening now, three leaders, a shared mission. president obama huddles with the leaders of mexico and canada. they pledge to battle major problems especially one that's already left a lot of people dead. after a small plane crashes with a helicopter in new york, questions remain. why did it happen and could it happen again? we're standing by for some answers. there's a news conference with the national transportation safety board. stand by. and a congressman screams at his constituents. did he have a public meltdown? >> not a single one of you have the decency to call my office and set up for a meeting.

okay? then do that. do that! but don't, don't come and take advantage of what these individuals have done. you want a meeting with me on health care, i'll give it to you. >> tempers flare after a doctor confronts a congressman with questions over health care reform. why this blowup? i'll ask the congressman and the doctor whose question sparked the anger. they're both here. i'm wolf blitzer in cnn's command center for breaking news, politics, and extraordinary reports from around the world. you're in "the situation room." all that coming up. let's begin with the breaking news right now. after days without 100% certainty that a notorious taliban leader is dead, u.s. officials are now convinced hess. and cnn is learning specific

details into this apparent strike against the pakistani taliban leader, baitullah mesud. straight to our senior white house correspondent ed henry. what have you learned? >> reporter: xwas basically, there has been that uncertainty, but i was told flatly by a senior u.s. official he's dead. that is the information president obama is getting from intelligence officials. one of the reasons they believe he was it in hit last wednesday evening in pakistan is i'm told in recent weeks there was a dramatic escalation in the number of the unmanned drones that the cia had framed on mesud. specifically, there were about five of them. the cia wanted more. they sought more and got five more. they had nine drones trained on mesud. that's why they were zeroing in and are convinced. >> what was the indication this is a 100% done deal? >> wednesday night, all of a sudden a man appeared on the roof of mesud's father-in-law's home in pakistan. it was a short, stocky man who

was following the physical description of mesud and specifically a woman started massaging his leg. the cia knew that mesud had diabetes and his legs were in great pain. he often sought a refuge that way through these massages, and specifically it was on the roof because it was very warm in pakistan that day. that's when the cia decided to move in. they already had a preauthorization from president obama to strike if they felt they had a clear shot. they believed they did and they took him out, wolf. >> okay. thanks very much, ed henry, with that report, the breaking news. our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence, what are they saying there, chris? >> reporter: i spoke with a senior defense official who said the reason you should care about this, even though he was based in pakistan, they believe mesud was responsible for coordinating a lot of the strikes against american troops over in afghanistan. he says this is an example to others of what happens when your name ends up on that high-value

target list. on the other hand, we've also been taking a look at an asse assessment, a director of national intelligence that says even if the taliban lost that entire area in pakistan, lost control of it, they could adapt. they felt that because of recent gains by the taliban in the east and the south, that even if they had to move operations it might put them at short-term risk but they could adapt. >> i was struck this morning reading "the wall street journal." this interview that general stanley mcchrystal gave "the wall street journal," chris, in which he acknowledged rather bluntly that taliban seems to have the upper hand right now, the headline in "the wall street journal," the taliban is winning. that must mean that the u.s. and its nato allies are losing. what are they saying on this? >> well, i talked to two sources with u.s. forces in afghanistan, and they flatly told me general mcchrystal did not say that. they say yes, he did say that the enemy is resilient, yes, that it is a very aggressive

enemy, but that he did not say the taliban is winning, he did not say that the taliban has the upper hand. that said, he did say they've got a lot of concern, and, in fact, we heard from the president's national security advisor just recently that really after all these years of war that really a firm strategy is really just now taking shape. >> my opinion was that we did not have a well-articulated strategy until march of this year. we had a strategy for security. we had a little bit of a strategy for economic development, which was other people's problems. and we had a strategy that may be addressed a little bit of governance and rule of law. this strategy merges all those three things. >> the key thing a lot of americans are going to be concerned about july was the deadliest month for u.s. forces in afghanistan, august shaping up to be more of the same and the top commanders are warning

there's possibly more to come. wolf? >> chris, thank you. chris lawrence at the pentagon. president obama visited mexico for the north american summit today joined by the leaders of mexico and canada. one top topic, immigration reform. president obama said with all the issues he's facing right now including health care reform, the battered economy among other issues, immigration reform will simply have to wait until next year. the president did say he expects draft legislation on the issue this year, at least by the end of this year. meanwhile, swine flu is also a critical issue on the agenda. let's go straight to our white house correspondent suzanne malvea malveaux, joining us, traveling with the president in guadalajara. important that all three countries work together involving the h1n1, especially, suzanne, as the swine flu season gets closer and closer, the flu season. >> reporter: absolutely, wolf. you may recall it was back in april when president obama was in mexico city. that's when this h1n1 virus first started to perk late.

it was actually one of president obama's aide who is got sick with the flu, went home and recovered. the president never got sick, was never in any danger, we understand, but at the time president obama, his whole entourage, none of us had a clue that this was even going to be a problem, wolf. since that has happened, things have dramatically changed. the u.s. government, the mexican government, as well as the canadians all in constant contact over the swine flu, particularly taking a look at the flu season this fall. the biggest concern for these three leaders, the deadly scourge of the swine flu, expected to re-emerge in the fall. it was the top priority for president barack obama and his counterparts from mexico and canada at the so-called summit of the three amigos. >> we resolve to continue taking all necessary preparations and precautions to prepare for the upcoming flu season and protect the health of our people. and this challenge transcends borders and so must our response. >> translator: h1n1, as we know

it, will be back this winter. we are getting prepared, all three countries. >> reporter: the h1n1 virus originated in mexico in the spring. it then spread throughout the world. the leaders pledged to share information about flu cases and vaccines to assure the borders stay open and residents don't panic. >> suzanne, he may be in mexico, but the issue of health care, his top domestic priority right now certainly very much still on his mind. >> reporter: and he was asked about this, wolf, in the press conference. one of the things he's trying to do is regain control over the debate, obviously a very heated debate over the summer here. and he was asked whether or not he would take any lessons or any aspect of the canadian model, which is largely funded by the government, their health care system. the president did not take the bait. he said that what's good for canadians is good for canadians, that the americans have to find their own way and their own system. he said anybody who's trying to compare his health care reform to canada's plan is just dead

wrong. >> i don't find canadians particularly scary, but i guess some of the opponents of reform think that they make a good boogeyman. i think that's a mistake. and i suspect that once we get into the fall and people look at the actual legislation that's being proposed, that more sensible and reasoned arguments will emerge and we're going to get -- we're going to get this passed. >> reporter: wolf, that is what the president is hoping and that's why he is headed off to montana and new hampshire this week. he is really trying to get a hold and take control once again of this debate. there has been so much emotion and criticism around this. when you see those town halls, he'll get out there and have a few town halls himself. >> suzanne in guadalajara. thanks very much. let's check in with jack cafferty right now. he's got "the cafferty file." jack, four years ago, this weekend, you and i began a partnership.

>> that's true. right here in "the situation room." >> can you believe it's been four years the "the situation room" has been on the air? >> it's amazing, isn't it? >> yes. >> you know what i find remarkable? i look pretty much the same, but you've aged a lot. >> i know i have. that's what "the situation room" has done to me. time flay flyes when you're having fun. >> this is kind of a fun thing we do. in an update to this story, this isn't fun, this thing i'll tell you about. an update to a story we brought you last week in "the cafferty file." a group of republican and democratic senators is now saying not so fast to the house's plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on new jets. "wall street journal" reports the senators, along with the pentagon, are critical of the $550 million plan to buy eight new gulf stream boeing planes for government officials and vips to fly around in. democratic senator claire mccaskill says, quote, the whole thing kind of makes me sick to my stomach, unquote, adding that the move paints members of

congress as out of touch. spending money like it's monopoly money. several senators are planning to oppose the purchase when they take up the bill in the fall. let's hope they do. originally, the administration wanted $220 million to buy four jets to replace older planes, but before the house left town on vacation, they doubled the order to eight planes. it was part of a larger defense funding bill. in a masterful bit of rationalizati rationalization, supporters in the house claim that buying eight new jets will actually save money later on because the new planes are cheaper to operate than the older ones. they say it's not a question of whether or not the planes will be bought but when they will be bought. oh, yeah? more rationalization. these guys are amazing. those who approve this extravagance claim that these jets are mostly used by the military and that members of congress only fly around in them 15% of the time. so, i guess that makes it all okay.

right? wrong. here's the question -- should the house cancel its order for $550 million worth of new jets? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. you can post a comment on my blog. here's a hint -- yes. >> it may be a hint but i don't think they're going to do it. what do you think? >> i think they will. i think that -- claire mccaskill and some of the people in the senate recognize just how tone deaf this action by the house of representatives is. and doing it right before they leave town for a month. i mean, how symptomatic is that of the whole idea that they're trying to get away with something? >> good point. jack, thanks very much. happy anniversary again. >> and you, sir. i hope we're here four years from now. >> at least. thank you. we're standing by for an ntsb briefing on that air crash between a small plane and a helicopter in new york. we're going to bring you that and dramatic 911 tapes also being released. and a doctor versus a congressman. the congressman's temper flares after being questioned about health care reform.

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you've seen some of the debate over health care reform, some getting heated. but this doctor asks a georgia

congressman a question in a recent q&a forum, and then things got a bit testy. >> well, i'm not voting on any plan. first of all, i haven't voted on any bill. >> are you plan ong voting on that bill? >> i don't know. >> that's an easy out response. >> yes, i do. and i'm listening to my constituents. okay? these are people who live in the 13th congressional district, who vote in this district. that's who i've got to respond to. okay? right. all right. that's everybody with different opinions. so, what you've got to understand is those of you who are here who have taken and came and hijacked this event that we're dealing with here, this is not a health care event. you made the choice to come here. >> all right.

that was congressman -- the democrat david scott of georgia. the question was dr. hill, a neuroologist. they're both in "the situation room" right now. let me introduce representative scott first. what was so wrong about his question, congressman, that got you upset? >> because the people of douglasville, especially the african-american community in douglasville, an $80 million new highway was going through their community, they set this meeting up, it was not mine. it was the people of douglasville that did this, and it's because of their homes and their businesses, 65 businesses would be removed. it's going through a tunnel in douglasville. it would come out on the other side. this is a big, big deal, and imagine yourself with your home and everything else there. and many of these people have felt that they've been disenfranchised before. that's what this meeting was for. >> all right. >> so that when -- and the doctor knew it. he will tell you he knew it. and then i have a health fair

coming up this saturday where we'll have all the health care providers where there will be. so, when channel 11 ran that clip, they picked out -- >> hold on, congressman, because i want dr. scott to respond. what do you say to that point this was a discussion about a highway and you asked a question about health care reform? >> i do agree with him, actually, and i won't disagree with him at all. it was a discussion about highway 92. and i had called congressman scott's office and i spoke with them before hand and i actually asked them if they were going to be having a health care reform forum and i was told no. so, i went to the meeting, waited 3 1/2 hours. they made an announcement at the meeting, we understand people are here to ask other questions other than highway 92, if you have any other questions about highway 92, please form a line. nobody else asked about highway 92, nobody was behind me and i asked a question about health care at that time.

>> what was wrong with that, congressman? >> the point is this. if the doctor was sincere and he had an issue with health care, he could call my office. >> i did. >> and come in and -- >> i did. >> hold on, doctor. your question is when is congressman scott having aforum? and the answer, as my office said, he's not. that was different than you had a question, so you took it upon yourself to come and ask this question -- >> let me interrupt, congress. if your staff said if you have a question on something else and he waits in line till the very end and he had a question about health care, what's wrong with simply answering the question? >> because that issue was do you have any more questions about the highway? i've got a tour waiting for people to take me to show the impact in that community. again, here's the issue. the issue was they knew perfectly well that these people had spent months putting this together for a very destructive highway, and so that was the

general question. i felt i had to stand up and defend the people of douglasville. and the other thing is this. this is an orchestrated opportunity here. >> let me stop you on that point because dr. brian hill totally disagrees with you, that he's part of any orchestration, don't you, dr. hill? >> it's 100% correct. i'm not orchestrating with anybody. i'm not involved with anybody. my father-in-law, my father-in-law who's 66 years old, whom i called that morning and i decided probably about 1:00 in the morning on friday that i was going to go, i called him at 8:00 in the morning and said, hey, you want to come with me? i want to go, i want to sit down. i'll sit through this meeting and i'll see if we can get some questions about health care in and i sat through the meeting for four hours. >> here is the point. >> and so -- >> congressman, he is your constituent. he's a physician. he asked a simple question. i'll paraphrase the question. we'll get your answer. do you support this public option, this public health

insurance agency that would compete with the private health insurance companies? >> and i answered that question yes, i do. every question he asked i said yes. >> i didn't say -- i said why? why. >> well -- >> why do you support that plan, you know, that i discussed about and i want a good, educated response, not talking points. >> okay. let me answer for you now. >> great. >> i genuinely believe, doctor, that the big problem in this is the insurance company and the pricing system that is there. they liack competition. they have a monopoly on it. we need a form of an option here that will force some competition while at the same time providing an opportunity for those who might -- the insurance companies might not want to take with having an opportunity. my final point is this. >> how do we have a monopoly when there are multiple insurance agencies out there? and you haven't said how. you're doing talking points. you're talking about a

government subsidized option that i've already looked at, already talked about. we've looked at data and facts. i've talked about the massachusetts health care plan. we can talk about canada, we can talk about, you know, europe. we can talk intelligently. but i want to hear facts and numbers and data and figures. i'm going to say this quickly because this bothers me. this is a health fair you're holding on the 15th. i'm a fi six and a health fair is when people come to go screening for diabetes and hypertension and prostate cancer and cholesterol levels. that's not a forum to go and talk about health care to have people raising voices and having discussion. and actually, somebody mentioned to me at the meeting that day and i saying i heard he's having a health fair on the 15th. and i said you know what? that's not appropriate for people to go to that kind of meeting and stand up and cause problems when patients and physicians are getting together to try to do what's right for the community. so, this is a health fair. this is not a health fair forum. >> may i answer you please, doctor. >> yes. i would love an answer.

>> you have very eloquently explained the complexities of this issue, the fact you want data and all that information. >> mm-hmm. >> you live in the district and you're a physician. >> mm-hmm. >> why not take the time to call your congressman, set an appointment and come in where we can lay all this out for you rather than -- rather than come on in a very -- in the video showed the raucousness -- >> because there was a raucousness there. not the whole video. >> listen, my friend. this was not for health care. that was the issue that rubbed. this is where people whose homes are impacted by a road that's coming through this that could destroy them. >> sure. talking about are 300 million millions that will be impacted by this health care plan. and i agree -- >> don't talk over me. >> i won't. >> all i'm simply saying, doctor, and i don't want to talk over you. >> i agree. >> i want to make clear that on the tape when i was saying don't come in and take advantage of what these folks are done,

that's what i've said, because i owed it to them to stand up for them and respect the hard work they've put for this, their homes are going to be affected and destroyed, businesses, in this african-american community who has expressed a desire and a feeling of being disenfranchised. so here you all come taking advantage of that on a very controversial, complex issue that you know and i know full well is going to take far more deliberation. i'm anxious to -- >> let me let dr. hill respond to that. >> it works to bring people together. >> dr. hill, get back to the point that, you know, you were not part of any organized group or you're not even a republican, i take it, are you? >> no. i'm not. i'm an independent voter. i like data. i'm a data guy. i'm a physician. i live my life on data. as i mentioned to congressman scott, we practice evidence-based medicine, we do research, see outcome data and we practice medicine based on those outcome data.

i'm all about outcome data. that's why i spoke with data coming out, pure data saying that this health care plan is not achieving what we want. we want to improve access to health care, ke death crease costs to health care, and we're not seeing that happening out of the plan that is being run in massachusetts. >> it sounds to me, congressman, that -- >> -- antun to extend an invitation to you, doctor. but i would love to set up a meeting where you could come to the office, we can sit down. i'd love to have your input. let's work together on this bill, that's very valuable for us to work. but that's what i am very much after. i want to bring down the high cost of health care while at the same time expanding its coverage. that's a very difficult thing to do, and we need your help and i would love for you and i to sit down and see if we can't make some contributions to this. >> do you accept that invitation? >> i would love to do that. but i will tell you, and the things i worry about, because i don't want this to be politicized. this is not a political issue.

this is an issue that should not be politicized, that should not be along any type of ideology. this is health care. this is people's deiaily lives d their health and i'm a little afraid that we go and we sit down and we talk and there's nobody that's going to hold you accountable to what you say and what we talk about. >> let me make a proposal. congressman -- >> it's going to be out there and i don't need that. we -- >> doctor, i'm a part of the force in congress that slowed this down. i'm a part of the group in congress that worked on this to make sure we bring down the cost. >> i'm a member of the blue dog coalition that was the force that stopped this. i am interested in getting your points of view heard. i spoke with obama to do this. and he agreed to do it. so, please, don't paint me in that corner. i want to work with you to make sure your views are expressed. you are a member of my constituency. and i would love to rep you on it and love for you to -- >> how about a nice health care forum? how about a nice -- is this

health fair on friday -- i mean on sunday -- excuse me, on saturday the 15th, is that -- is that physicians and patients getting together? >> i think it would be excellent because we're going to have the physicians there, doctors, the people who are actually providing the health care, the drug manufacturing companies. so, people will be there who can entertain that. >> will you be there? >> i will be there and i'd love for you to come to it. >> and we can answer questions. we can have questions in an open forum. because i'll give you time to do your research so you can come back with numbers and tell me why you're supporting a government-subsidized option where we're already seeing those increase costs. i would love for you to come back with numbers to show us so we can talk to understand why you're supporting an option that has shown to increase costs, because that's exactly the opposite of what we need to do, isn't it? >> go ahead congressman, and then we have to leave it. >> the point that i'm saying is that the government option is designed to bring down the cost

of insurance because they can compete. i'm not saying monopoly. you have a few of these insurance companies, they work together. it's sort of like a collusion there. we all know that. there are certain areas there we can work with. but whether it is a government option or a co-op or something -- >> it's the same word. >> well, maybe, doctor, you can work with us that can get something to force the insurance companies to be more competitive and bring down their prices. >> competition amongst insurance companies. i think that's a great idea. we can talk about knocking down, you know, the borders so that people can actually buy health insurance from texas and people can buy health insurance from other parts in the country. i think we need to -- >> well, i'd love to have -- we'll have physicians there. we'll have people there from the government and everybody and let's sit down -- >> wonderful. >> -- and we will get your viewpoint there. >> i would like to propose to both youf that cnn cameras be allowed inside to -- so that we can record this and let our viewers continue this dialogue. >> that would be wonderful.

it'll be in clayton county, georgia, in jonesboro this saturday from 10:00 to 2:00 p.m. i look forward to seeing you, doctor, and -- >> wonderful. >> -- shaking your hand. maybe we'll have a beer together. >> i'd love to have a beer with you. you can never turn down a beer. >> it seems to be the way of resolving these issues nowadays. >> i still want truth, but -- i still want numbers and data. that doesn't resolve things for me until i see that. >> congressman david scott, democrat of georgia, dr. brian hi hill, neurologist of georgia, a constituent of congressman scott's, thanks so much for having this good discussion. >> thank you, wolf. appreciate it. thank you, congressman. >> thank you, brian. appreciate it. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> betty nguyen is following a developing story for us. betty, what's coming in? >> we are getting word that a 7.6 magnitude earthquake has struck near india's island. this is being felt in a number of countries.

we're hearing even tokyo was shaken because of this. it's also called a tsunami watch and that watch covers india, myanmar, thailand, indonesia, bangladesh, as well. so, it could cause quite a bit of damage. we have a tsunami watch for all of those countries. it was a large magnitude quake, a 7.6 magnitude quake near india's island, but it's being felt in a number of countries including right in tokyo. they felt the aftershocks of it. >> wow. betty, there's some other news you're following right now, as well, right? >> absolutely. we want to talk gas prices making a steady upward climb. take a look at this. it's risen every day since july 21st when the national average price per gallon was $2.46. well, today it is up to $2.65, up 19 cents in just 20 days. analysts expect the price to peak as high as $2.70 a gallon, still well below last summer's record high prices. and a wave of deadly bombings in iraq mass left at least 48 people dead and more

than 400 injured. the company's interior ministry blames al qaeda in iraq and says it's trying to inflame by targeting shia civilians. similar attacks on friday kill 50d people. and the condition of eunice kennedy shriver is being described as minute by minute right now. a source close to the family says relatives were quickly summoned again today after what's being described as a setback. the 88-year-old shriver is in critical condition. she is the sister of the late president john f. kennedy and senator ted kennedy. wolf? >> thanks very much, betty. stand by. we'll be getting back to you on all those developments and more. you've heard the debate over health care reform, but you're going to find out how it's affecting people in their everyday lives. you'll hear stories from one place in ohio that might be very similar to your own story. and a new twist in the investigation of michael jackson's death. there appears to be some results now into what killed him. we may not know for a while what exactly it is, and we'll tell you why.

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you just heard a lively debate between a congress mon and a concerned doctor over health care reform. right now the head of the

insurance industry's top lobbying group here in washington says the battle for reform will either live or die this month. that according to the associated press. meanwhile, the raging debate continues around the country as missouri senator claire mccaskill, a democrat, tours her state today. how was the reception? let's go to our congressional correspondent, brianna keilar, joining us from missouri with more on that. how was it, brianna? >> reporter: different receptions at different events, wolf. right now, we are at senator mccaskill's third event of the day in southeastern missouri, and it's a pretty contentious debate going on in this room right behind me. a lot of supporters as well as opponents of health care reform, the democrats' efforts at health care reform, especially some very vocal opponents. so, at this point this debate has not made a turn towards chaos. i can definitely tell you what that. but what we're seeing here is a very different scene from what we saw about an hour southeast

of here. the claim to fame is the hometown of singer sheryl crow, kennett is like many rural communities. this is where democrats are trying to win the health care debate, and senator mccaskill is aware it's a tough crowd. >> why don't you raise your hand if you are so mad about the idea of federal health care reform you can't even think straight? >> reporter: more than a few hands here at mccaskill's health care town hall meeting, but unlike many recent events around the country, this one was civil. one audience member asked mccaskill what she thinks of those radical events. >> she was unsympathetic. >> i think it was a huge mistake to suggest anyone opposed to the health care plan is manufactured. it's not manufactured. now, i think both sides are organizing. that's what we do in a democracy. >> reporter: as mccaskill tried to disarm critics of the democrats' proposal for a

government-run insurance plan that she supports, she was also quick to rebuff certain claims, that it would limit care for seniors and fund abortions. >> there is nothing in the bill that mandates any kind of abortion coverage. that's simply not true. >> reporter: to a government takeover of health care. >> i can tell you congress is not going to pass a sing hfl payer plan. >> reporter: and mccaskill pointed a finger at insurance companies. >> in 2007 they made $12.9 billion in profits. so, we've got to do something about health insurance reform. if you get really sick and lose your job, they have the right to say we're not going to give you insurance. >> reporter: now, the key democratic talking points something we saw democratic leaders in the house and senate really hit hard on, painting insurance companies as the bad guys, wolf, before they left washington for this very critical august recess. >> all right, brianna. brianna keilar in missouri at that town hall for us. thank you.

back to the breaking news right now. chad myers is watching this earthquake. chad, set the scene for those viewers who might be turn tuning in. >> two separate earthquake, one 57.6, the other about a 6.4. they'll go up and down. they always do, just up and down a little bit. one in the bay of bengal, and this right here would be india. there may have been a tsunami. there's a tsunami watch. there may have been a tsunami generated. could have gone east. it could have gone west. there's a watch for india, myanmar, all the way down to rangoon as well. and then 12 minutes later, not really associated with this earthquake whatsoever, we'll take you here to the coast near hons honshu. this would be about 100 miles or so from tokyo. this was a 6.4, and the japanese meteorological agency saying, yes, we could have a tsunami with this but it's probably only about a foot and a half, so not life-threatening, not devastating, although it depends on if you're in the wrong place at the right time, a foot and a

half rise, if you're a fishing vessel or such, you could be in the way of this. so, right now, these are about 20 miles deep. sometimes you want to see an earthquake very, very deep, wolf, and that means that it's not going to shake the sea floor. tsunamis, because the sea floor shakes. you get a shallow quake, the sea floor shakes quite a bit so, that's why you could get a larger tsunami, like we obviously had years ago. that's all i have, about 100 miles from tokyo, but they did feel the shaking and they did feel the movement of the buildings in downtown tokyo from our buildings and our pier there. >> 7.6 is incredibly large. >> yes. >> what you're saying, chad, is it just a co-insz dense these two happened a few minutes apart? >> absolutely. just a coincidence. >> all right. we'll stay on top of this story. i want to go to new york. the ntsb is briefing on that small plane crash with a helicopter over the weekend. >> -- about the air space, as you all are aware, the action occurred in very complex air

space over new york city in between new york city and new jersey. there are three major air carrier airports and a variety of other general aviation facilities accommodating both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. there are also amphibious aircraft that take off and land from the water in this area. they have a high density of traffic here. and most of the air space in this area has been designated class b air space by the faa. the fr operations are authorized to load the class b air space surrounding this area in both

the hudson river and the east river as we've discussed before. as you all know, we were here for the cory lidle accident investigation in october of 2006. these exclusionary yas were first identified in 1971. the faa stated that the purpose of the hudson and east river exclusiona areas at that time ws to provide for dfr aircraft operations over the rivers for transiting, landing, or departing aircraft. before the exclusionary areas were defined, the floor of the class b air space extended down to the river. floor of the class b air space is required that anyone within that class b air space coordinate with air traffic control, and they are positively controlled when they're in class b air space. seaplane and helicopter bases are currently located in or near

these exclusion areas, and aircraft also use the exclusi exclusion area over in the hudson river to transit underneath the class b air space within the vicinity of laguardia, newark, and the other airports. the piper contacted tower after takeoff and then was electronically handled off to the newark tower that is on the radar screen of the teterboro tower and on the radar screen of the newark tower there is a symbol depicting a discreet target for this aircraft. one air-traffic controller basically pitches that aircraft to the other one electronically. the receiving air-traffic controller essentially catches it, acknowledges that he's got that aircraft, and then the teterboro air-traffic controller goes back to the pilot in the

piper, advises him to change frequencies over to newark tower. now, as i briefed yesterday, they had done the electronic handoff when the air-traffic controller went back to the pilot and advised him to change frequencies. the newark air-traffic controller never had any communication from the pilot. the newark air-traffic controller went back to the teterboro air-traffic controller, asked him to put the aircraft on a heading and adv e advised him to change frequencies. the teeter borrow controller attempted to hail the aircraft to do that and received no response. we are looking into all the time lines for this communication, trying to corroborate that information with the time lines we have on the radar hits that we showed you yesterday for both the piper as well as the liberty tour helicopter also trying to communicate -- corroborate any

communication that might have taken place over that common frequency. we're still trying to determine if anyone records that common frequency in the hudson river area. teterboro does not own or control the air space above 1,101 feet. the space is managed by newark. so, teterboro basically would coordinate a handoff to newark, and it's their responsibility to control that aircraft when they're in that class b air space. we have some information from the air traffic control tapes. these are the faa's air traffic control tapes at teterboro, and these were some of the communications as far as clearance that the air-traffic controller and the pilot of the piper aircraft had.

air traffic control asked, are you going to request via down the river or southwest bound? the pilot responded the most direct, i'll take either one. they came back, let me know so i know who to coordinate with, and the pilot responded, okay, tell you what, i'll take down the river. so, we're trying to determine exactly the communication sequence, the timing, and what the expectations were for handoff and control and what frequency there was understanding that the pilot would be on both from teterboro tower and newark tower and information that might have been conveyed to the pilot. pilots are advised when they enter that exclusionary on the

hudson river to tune into a common traffic advisory frequency. that traffic advisory frequency is 123.05 megahertz. when they're operating in the hudson river exclusion area. this is an advisory in nature only. it's not required. this information is published on the vfr charts. but this pilot was being handled by teterboro and was being handed off to newark, which would be on a different frequency. the floor of the class b air space is 1,101, and the ceiling of the exclusion area over the hudson river is 1,100. there were some discussions of midair collisions in past briefings with some questions. i wanted to advise you some of the recommendations that the ntsb has issued in the past.

we have issued 14 recommendations to the faa regarding collision avoidance or collision warning systems. 12 recommendations have been issued with respect to collision avoidance methods, technique, or awareness programs such as see and avoid or scanning techniques. we have made recommendations on this issue almost going back to the creation of the agency. the safety board's been around for 40 years. in '72, we asked the faa to alert the general aviation community of the increasing potential for midair collisions in the vicinity of airports. in 1993, we issued a recommendation to the faa to identify air space that warrants special protection via the president of commercial air tour

operations and to create special operating rules for such air space to reduce the potential for midair collisions and other accidents. we have investigated other midair accidents recently. we investigate an accident in phoenix involving two electronic news gathering helicopters. they were involved in a midair collision while they were filming a police chase. the safety board made several recommendations stemming from that accident. one of them was to increase the continue speck you ti of the aircraft to make them more visible to each other, including such things as high-visibility blades, paint schemes for the blades of the helicopter, or high-visibility anti-collision lights on their aircraft. we also asked the faa to develop standards for helicopter cockpit

electronic traffic advisory systems so that pilots could be alerted to the presence of other aircraft in their vicinity regardless of their position. we have long had collision avoidance technology available. we are actually in the second generation of that on our passenger carrying aircraft. the challenge is there is commercial off the shelf technology available for helicopters with respect to collision avoidance, but helicopters are often operating in such close proximity to other traffic that they get a lot of nuisance alerts, there is a lot of basically alerts that go off so that the pilots -- it becomes essentially white noise. so, in this recommendation this year, the faa, we were asking them to develop better standards for helicopters so that they could have tighter margins for operation. and so, if you're in a commercial aircraft and you get a warning three miles out, well,

if you're a helicopter operating in a news gathering operation or in the hudson river, if you're getting alerts for any air craft -- >> okay. we're going to break-away. a briefing on the collision of a small plane, a helicopter, over the hudson river over the weekend. she's going to be joining us live by the way during our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. we've got a lot of questions about what happened. we'll go back to debbie. that's coming up. meanwhile, health care is stealing the spotlight, but president obama says there's another crisis about to boil over. so, why is he kicking reform down the road? we're going to answer that question, talk about that and a lot more in our "strategy session."

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we have a broken immigration system. nobody denies it. it's causing ongoing tensions inside the united states. it's not fair and it's not right. and we're going to change it. now, i've got a lot of my plate, and it's very important for us to sequence these big initiatives in a way where they don't all just crash at the same time. >> all right. the president saying comprehensive immigration reform is going to have to wait till next year. let's talk about that with democratic strategist cnn cent or the donna brazile and republican strategist tony blankley, former spokesman for then house speaker newt gingrich. the first time i remember hearing the president saying you know we can't do everything at once. i have to punt. >> if you think health care reform is a hard issue, try immigration reform.

it's very difficult to get this kind of legislation through given the timetable we know exists toward the end of the year. i think the president is correct to look at it in terms of next year. chuck schumer of new york is going to introduce a comprehensive immigration bill sometime this fall. members of congress will have enough time to look it over and begin to discuss it with their sti constituents next year. >> were you surprised the president acknowledged he's got a full plate right now, no room for anything else? >> no. he's correct. there were two good political reasons not to do immigration this year, one, as you say, because of the health bill, which is going to take the rest of the fall at the minimum to get done, and, two, you don't want to do immigration when unemployment is high. you have less people receptive to immigrants legal or illegal and we're at 9.4%, i stthink, si would guess that the white house, if they're practical, and i assume they are, they would wait for the unemployment rate to go down to a point, you know,

5%, 5.5%. at that point, may might try. >> the poll shows there's increasing anger about immigration as a result of the high unemployment. >> 12 million people are in limbo because they're looking for a path to citizenship. >> they're going to be in limbo at least until next year. the president said they're going to have to wait. >> keep in mind the longer unemployment is relatively high in america the more illegal immigrants go back to countries, at least those who can move over land. people from mexico, central america, south america are leaving because of our jobs. >> quickly on dick durbin yesterday, saying this to our john king. listen to this. >> i support a public option, but yes, i am open. just understand that after we pass this bill, and i hope we do in the senate, it will go to conference committee, we'll have a chance to work out all our differences. so, we'll see how this ends. but i don't want the process to

be filibustered to failure. >> is that realistic that if the house passes health insurance reform with a public option, a government-run insurance agency to compete with the private insurance company, the senate does it, when they get together and try to have their conference committee, they will get that public option? i hope so, wolf, simply because -- >> i know you hope so, but is that realistic? >> well, i think so because four out of five committees are supportive. >> in the house. >> and the senate. there are many senators -- >> a lot of opposition, including from democrats. >> there's opposition, wolf, but look, if we're serious about reducing costs, we need to look at a public option. >> is it realistic they could get it back in? >> there's an old technique, say just pass something in and get it fixed there. that works on legislation that is not highly visible. in this one, it won't be there for the conference vote. but at this point, i don't blame the senator for wanting to move it along and hope for better later on. >> guys, thank you.

let's check back with jack for "the cafferty file." jack. that's the american way when it comes to our government, isn't it? kick it down the road and open something good happens later on. >> correct. >> the question is -- see what their constituents are stuck with. dave writes -- donna in louisiana.

susan writes -- seems everyone except the government's being asked to tighten their belts. patsy in texas. this is great. listen to this. how he voted on the appropriations committee, but they said those votes were not disclosed and my congressman was in alaska, so they could not ask him. i then e-mailed the question, and of course, no answer yet. what a rude awakening this has been. i'm happy to see someone somewhere is seeing this for what it is, scratching each other's backs while rome is burning. thanks, jack, for not letting this thing die. they couldn't reach him? i guess, what, they don't have

cell phone service in alaska? chantelle writes -- if you didn't see your e-mail here, go to my blog at cnn.com/caffertyfile. look for yours there among hundreds of others. not a lot of support, wolf. >> why am i not surprised? thanks, jack. the search for bodies and answers after a shocking collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter full of tourists. why some pilots say this was an accident waiting to happen. are america's enemies winning in afghanistan? the u.s. commander makes a dire assessment. and his prediction u.s. troops could be there for many years to come. we're going to kabul. and we'll take you to the skies over britain where a man is out crossing the country on a flying bike. you're going to see it to believe it. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." as divers look for the last

of the victims, investigators are looking for answers to the weekend collision between a small private plane and a helicopter carrying a group of sight seers. one hotly debated issue. the crowded air space along the hudson river. let's go to cnn's susan candiotti. >> reporter: river currents have been so swift, the recovery operation was stalled most of the day. divers could barely see their hands in front of their faces. they spotted pieces of the single-engine plane but could not retrieve them let alone finding the two remaining victims. newly released 911 calls revisited saturday's horror when witnesses called for help. >> reporter: on a nearby pier, investigators picking their way

through a maze of twisted metal that barely resembled the liberty tour sightseeing helicopter. a piece of the tail section moved aside. some pilots say the midair crash that claimed nine lives was an accident waiting to happen. what's the main problem as you see it? >> the main problem is you're funneling a lot of airplanes and helicopters into a very narrow and very low piece of air space and eventually if you do that you're going to have a collision like just happened on saturday. >> reporter: aviation attorney justin greene flew marine attack helicopters in the first gulf war. if you were signed up to take a sightseeing tour in the coming days and weeks, would you do it? >> oh, i wouldn't. i would not do it unless -- i would never let family or friends take a helicopter tour. >> reporter: new regulations separating helicopters from other air traffic are introduced. but others say regulations aren't the answer. just more vigilance. the ntsb will weigh in once its investigation is done.

>> if you relax your vigilance just for a few seconds, the results can be catastrophic, and the safety board has seen this time and time again with our accident investigations. >> reporter: at this hour, the ntsb is wrapping up a news conference. no hard headlines for you right now. we're going to quickly show you what a picture of what's happening at this hour. there's a raft out there. they have been out there all day long since the sun went up, some divers out there, but again they've been stymied by the conditions beneath the surface of the water. as we tell you this -- the ntsb is saying that it has been very carefully reconstructing the events of that day. it's going to take some time to complete it other than to say this -- they looked over the last conversation between the pilot of the small plane and an air traffic control tower asking which route he wanted to take from teterboro, a small private airport here. the decision was left up to him and the pilot's last transmission was, "i'll take the

river." beyond that, just to show you how busy this particular air corridor is, in the last eight days, 225 aircraft per day have been flying along here on visual flight rules. that's a lot of aircraft. >> it certainly is. we'll speak with debbie hersman of the national transportation safety board in our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. lots of questions we have for her. thanks very much, susan candiotti. back to chad myers, following the breaking news, two, not one, but two earthquakes within the past few months. what do we know, chad? >> one was a 7.6 not far from where that huge earthquake was that caused the huge tsunami in 2004 and one not far from tokyo, about 100 miles from tokyo, both happening within 12 minutes of each other. i still believe they are completely unrelated. this would be myanmar, this india. a tsunami watch has been issued for this ocean area as that 7.6 struck at about 20 miles deep. that could be shallow enough to

push the ocean floor just enough to make a tsunami. also now back closer to basically japan right off the shore about 100 miles from tokyo, there was a 6.4 right there. and there is a tsunami advisory nearly a warning, a little stepped up from the watch there, but they expect that tsunami might only be a foot and a half, wolf. so, that would be a way that if you're right onshore you could be in trouble with it, but nothing that would go very, very far inland like we know that the tsunami did back in 2004 there. so, such a deadly situation there in 2004. this is nothing, nothing like that. >> this was a 7.6. how big of an earthquake was the one that devastated indonesia and thailand? >> over 9.0 on that one. >> wow. >> and you have to realize that between the 7.0 and the 9.0, it's not just two numbers. it's over and over, log rhythmic up from 7.0 to 9.0. >> we'll check back. thanks very much. president obama is putting

immigration reform high on his already crowded agenda. the pledge to do something about it came during a three-way north american summit today in guadalajara, mexico. >> we have a broken immigration system. nobody denies it. and if we continue on the path we're on, we will continue to have tensions with our mexican neighbors. we will continue to have people crossing the borders in a way that is dangerous for them, unfair for those who are applying legally to emigrate. >> the president says he's ready to fight for comprehensive immigration yes form but, guess what, it's going to have to wait until next year, noting that health care, financial regulation among other issues, they take priority right now. at that same news conference in mexico, the president said the u.s. will stand by mexico fighting the drug cartels despite allegations of human rights abuses by mexican soldiers. let's go to the scene right now. cnn's michael ware is watching

this story for us. the bottom line -- and you spent a lot of time, michael, investigating -- no matter what they say the leaders of the u.s., canada, and mexico, can they really break these drug cartels? >> well, certainly not militarily, wolf. certainly not in law enforcement terms. this is not a winnable war on the street. the power of the cartels is simply too great. the dynamic at play here is enormous. this is a multibillion-dollar industry that runs through mexico into the united states. the war that's being fought is primarily between rival cartels for the rights to supply america's demand for the illicit drugs that the population wants. now, the battles on the streets are raging here in mexico. just last month alone, 850 mexicans lost their lives. and president obama says that

ameri america's had to stand by its part next mexico, but in in ways that's all that america is doing. we've yet to see america really commit to this fight, because the fight isn't just about border, it isn't just about building a wall, it isn't just about coyotes smuggling people in or drug traffickers penetrating u.s. territory. the dynamic behind this entire issue is regional. it begins in the andes with the production of cocaine. it moves to central america where will's warehousing and shipments. in panama, the banking and the money laundering. in mexico, the all-powerful mexican drug cartels and the retail. and in america itself and on the streets of canada, it's the distribution. less and less of the mexican cartels are relying on american organized crime but are stepping in to do it themselves. and all the leaders have now gone their separate ways from this north american leader summit and we're left with nothing but words in the war on drugs.

wolf? >> gone on for decades, presumably will continue for decades more. michael ware on the scene for us, thank you. jack cafferty has "the cafferty file." he really puts his whole soul, all of his passion into these stories, you have to admit, jack. >> it's very lucid stuff. it brings great clarity to issues that sometimes can be a little befuddling for us lesser mortals. you know, a lot of people suggest that they legalize that stuff in this country. you've got those cartels pretty fast. but that's another topic for another day. top democrats called a protest against health care reform un-american. house speaker nancy pelosi, majority leader steny hoyer write in today's "usa today" op-ed piece that opponents of this debate are, quote, afraid, not just of differing views but of the facts themselves, they quote. they claim that drowning out the fact is what has failed this country so many times. they say dialogue is at the heart of democracy, pelosi and

hoyer describe the protests as an ugly campaign that misrepresents reform and interrupts discussion. they point to tactics that have included hanging an effigy, one democratic congressman, holding a sign that showed a tombstone with the name of another lawmaker, and shouting "just say no" over those who wanted to have a real discussion on reform. pelosi and hoyer insist that despite the disruptions, members of congress will listen to constituents and exflan reform. they say they're confident that their health care plan will stand up to any critics. meanwhile, republicans insist these protests are legitimate. mitch mcconnell call s complais from democrats absurd. he said attacking may indicate some weakness in their position, unquote. mcconnell said the fact is americans are concerned about health care reform and the democrats need to deal with that. so, here's the question.

go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog. wolf? >> jack, thanks very much. stand by. i want you to get ready for this story. a nightmare flight. dozens and dozens of passengers forced to stay in a cramped smelly plane overnight in the united states of america. guess what? are airlines and the airport now playing the blame game? stand by for this incredible story. plus, michael jackson's autopsy. the coroner's office finishes its work. why it's keeping the results confidential for now. and who's winning the war in afghanistan? after a dire assessment by the u.s. military commander there, we'll go to cnn's peter bergen. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious.

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[ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. a new development in the michael jackson death investigation. the los angeles county coroner's office has now finished its probe into what killed the pop star. the results, though, are sealed for now. let's go to cnn ted rowlands in los angeles. so, why are they deciding to keep all this secret for now, ted? >> reporter: because the lapd is telling them to. for weeks they've been telling the coroner to release the report they have been compiling for the last month plus and for the last few weeks we've been told maybe next week, maybe next week, wire just finishing and today definitively what we came

out officially from the coroner's office, indeed, they finished this report, they have a cause of death, they're ready to go. however, the lapd is instructing the coroner's office to continue a security hold on this case, meaning they are not going to release the findings of michael jackson's death until the lapd gives the green light, presumably that will be when the lapd finishes its death investigation and makes a decision on whether or not there will be any charges as a result of jackson's death. so, for now, the coroner has finished but they're not going to release it until the lapd -- >> and we have no idea when the lapd will finish its investigation, let alone when the prosecutors in los angeles are will decide if they have enough evidence to go forward with charges. >> reporter: absolutely. and you can bet that those two organizations have been collaborating throughout this process, but until, it seem, they've come up with a definitive path in terms of potential charges, the coroner, and as soon as they're done, they release this and file it, the coroner has been instructed

to hold it back until the other entities have completed their investigation, so it may be a while. >> okay, ted. thanks very much. are america's enemies now winning in afghanistan? with u.s. casualties at an all-time high, the u.s. military commander there offers a grim assessment. and a key member of the senate armed services committee says the u.s. needs to commit more resources including more troops to the fight. my message to my democratic colleagues is we've made mistakes in iraq. let's not do this thing on the cheap. let's have enough combat power and engagement across the board to make sure we're successful, and, quite frankly, we've all got a lot of ground to make up. >> let's get some more on what's going on in afghanistan right now. and joining us now from kabul, cnn's national security analyst peter bergen. peter, the "wall street journal" has a front-page story entitled "taliban now winning."

it quotes the u.s. commander in afghanistan, mcchrystal, saying the taliban have gained the upper hand in afghanistan. is he right? >> reporter: well, according to a u.n. assessment that i reported on last week for cnn.com, 40% of the country is either controlled by the taliban or is of high risk for frequent attacks by the taliban. that was an assessment that wasn't meant to be for public consumption. it was done by the afghan national security forces so, certainly the taliban has presence in -- strong presence in 40% of the country, but it's really limited to the south and the east. this is a rural pashtun phenomen phenomenon. in the north and the west, things are pretty quiet. >> are you surprised by mcchrystal's dire assessment? >> reporter: i am frankly surprised by it. you know, i think the taliban, even if you take the outer estimate for the size of the taliban, about 20,000 full-time fighters, you've got 170,000 members of the afghan police and

army, about 100,000 nato, u.s. soldiers. the taliban are not a strategic threat to afghanistan. personally, i don't think the taliban are winning. you could say that they're not losing, which is very important for insurgencies. if the insurgent feels that they can wait out the governments and the other allies, the taliban feel they have time on their side, eventually the international community will tire of the war and then they'll take over. but i don't think -- i think winning is a very strong phrase to use in the context of the taliban right now. certainly, they're not losing. certainly, they have a presence and a good chunk of the country. but i think winning is overdone. >> is it a matter of the u.s. perhaps sending more troops into afghanistan to try to get the job done? would more troops do it? >> i think so. i mean, if you do the math, wolf, it's pretty obvious. you go -- you know, in iraq, for

instance, you have 600,000 soldiers and policemen in a country that is smaller than afghanistan with a smaller population. here in afghanistan, you only go about 170,000 soldiers and police, and also 100,000 u.s. and nato soldiers. really fill up the the size of the afghan army and the afghan police. how do you do that? you send in more trainers, particularly skilled u.s. military trainers to do the job. and so, mcchrystal seems to be planning to ask for more soldiers. the most important kinds of soldiers to bring into the country are trainers and advisers for the afghan army, because building up the if afghan army, right now it's relatively small. it needs to be at least double, trip it will size it is right now. >> walter pincus writes in "the washington post" over the weekend, as the obama administration expands u.s. involvement in afghanistan, military experts are warning that the united states is taking on security and political commitment that will last at least a decade and a cost that

will probably eclipse that of the iraq war. is that something you would agree with? >> reporter: well, i'm skeptical in the notion of upwards of a trillion dollars, which is the cost of the iraq war. right now afghanistan costs about $200 billion. it seems inconceivable that the united states would spend anything cloels to what it spent in iraq. but in terms of the length of the commitment, i think the united states is going to be involved in the international community in afghanistan for decades. after all, the united states still has bases in japan 60 years after world war ii. it's very easy -- it's regrettably simple to get into these kinds of commitments and quite hard to get out of them. we've run the experiment twice before where the united states closed its embassy in 1989 and washed its hand of the place, and then again in 2001, we did nation building on the cheap and got the taliban and al qaeda coming back again. i think it's time now to get the

situation right in afghanistan that requires the right strategy and the right resources, and that is beginning to happen but is not really at the point it should be. >> petter bergens, our national security analyst, joining us from kabul. peter, be careful over there. thanks very much. >> reporter: thank you. after calling president obama's health care plan down right evil, sarah palin is now changing her tune a bit. see what she's saying right now. we'll talk about her latest posting on facebook. and we're just getting word of some roller coaster trouble at a california amusement park.

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scary situation atop a roller coaster at an amusement park in california. betty nguyen is watching it for us. what's going on? >> reporter: talk about a scary ride, wolf, a roller coaster in california at the great american theme park in santa clara. video of it. it is stuck. there are passengers still on that roller coaster. we hear from our affiliate kgo that some 32 people may, in fact, still this be on that roller coaster and you're seeing some of them right here. it appears their feet are dangling. that's the way the ride is set

up. no indication as to how long they've been stuck, but efforts are under way to get them down. again, a roller coaster is stuck in california at the great american theme park. we'll continue to follow that. other news to tell you about -- a california state prison where 175 inmates were injured in a riot, it remains on lockdown. look at this video. officials say more than a thousand prisoners are being moved temporarily to other detention centers. now, a prison spokesman says tensions between black and hispanic prisoners at the california institution for men, encino, may have sparked that riot. and the family of eunice kennedy shriver has been summoned to her bedside at a cape cod hospital pap source close to the family tells cnn that shriver suffered a setback. the 88-year-old sister of president john f. kennedy and founder of the special olympics has been in the hospital for the past several days. wolf? >> thanks very much, betty. stand by. we're going the get back to you on that roller coaster that's stuck in california. also, stuck on a plane overnight.

passengers forced to stay aboard a hot, smelly, crowded airliner unable to enter the terminal. what was behind this nightmare flight? and the search for bodies and answers after a plane and a helicopter collide. we're with the divers on the hudson river. a report you'll see only on cnn. plus, china's stolen children. thousands may be disappears from the streets. why parents accuse the police of indifference or worse. you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. brita-- better for the environment are more than words here. it's personal. i have diabetes. rodney's kid too.

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good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. you're in "the situation room" now. divers find the wreckage of a plane that collided with a helicopter over the weekend. we'll take you into the hudson river to see the challenges the divers are facing. it's the naugs's secret weapon against drug smuggling on the border. and we'll watch it in action right here on cnn. plus, volunteers line up as testing of the new swine flu vaccine gets under way at eight sites across the nation.

will the vaccine be ready for the fall when the flu season begins? we're going to visit one of those sites and find out. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." first, this -- continental airlines is now saying they're sorry to passengers who were forced to spend the night on a grounded jet. from the cramped conditions to the crying babies to the very, very smelly toilets. joe fryer from our minneapolis affiliate kare has the story. >> reporter: rochester international airport was an unexpected pit stop friday night for one passenger. >> to make a long story short, we stayed the entire night on the runway in this plane. >> reporter: his continental airlines flight was supposed to fly from houston to the twin cities, but thunderstorms forced a small plane to land in rochester around midnight. expressjet airlines operated the flight and says the crew reached

its maximum work hours in the air, so another flight crew had to be flown in. in the meantime, the airline would not let passengers off the plane because tsa screeners had gone home and passengers legally couldn't get back on the plane. plus the airline says the airport didn't have enough personnel to let passengers sleep in the terminal. so, nearly 50 passengers spe s the night on the plane. >> everybody in the plane was kind of move, trying to find positions to sleep in. there wasn't any room. the plane is getting warmer. there were at least two babies nearby me crying and screamed almost the whole night. the smells were getting worse. the bathroom was getting worse. the babies obviously were going to the bathroom. >> reporter: passengers were finally allowed off the plane around 6:30 a.m. when tsa screeners arrived. three hours later they left rochester and flew back to the twin city thoons same plane with the restroom that was now out of

order. >> i think there were a variety of options they could have utilized, not the least of which is to call the manager of the airport, say that we have a situation that's considered an emergency, we need to bring people back in to reopen the terminal, we will pay for it. >> joe friar from our affiliate kare in minneapolis reporting. and as we reported, the airlines involved are now apologizing. they're trying to explain what went so horribly, horribly wrong, expressjet which handles the regional flights for continental said, and i'm quoting now, our priorities are ensuring customer safety during severe weather and following all federal regulations at the airport facility. we apologize for the extended delay and inconvenience these customers experienced. continental airlines said in a separate statement --

and the rochester airport manager in minnesota said -- minneapolis, st. paul. what a story. indeed. there are going to be ramifications, no doubt about that. there's a shocking story coming in from china where thousands of children may be disappearing, snatched off the streets and possibly so.

parents accuse police officer of indifference or even worse. the chinese government says it's cracking down. our senior international correspondent, john voss, reports from beijing. >> reporter: >> reporter: she never stops looking for her son, kidnapped, she says, more than a year ago. whenever i go somewhere crowded i look for boy who is look like my son. i took photos of boys the same age so i can recognize him if we ever beat one day. she believes he was most likely sold to a family without a son in need of a male heir. the abduction was brazen. his mother says it was late afternoon, he was playing outside their house just over here with his older sister. he wasn't far away when she saw a white van slowly reversing up. the doors opened, a man reached out, grabbed her son, and then they sped off in the same direction. she says she screamed for help and gave chase on foot.

further up the road, a stranger on a motorcycle picked her up and together they chased the van. along the way, they passed a police car and what she says next seems to be beyond belief. the police said, quick, get in. i went with them. we were chasing the traffickers but after only a few moments they took a stunning turn. i asked why but they never said anything. i was crying and asking. but they didn't say anything. later at the police station, i asked why. and he told me he was off duty. so, it was someone else's responsibility. repeated requests to talk to the police involved were declined. but other parents, too, complain about police indifference. one says her son disappeared five years ago. "the police did not think it was a big deal. it was november. it was not until december when they started to investigate." another says her 4-year-old son went missing while playing outside the family shop.

"they wouldn't open a case file, she said, because no one saw the abduction, nor was there video surveillance." the boy on this security tape is a 3-year-old taken from a square in the city more than a year ago. his father says it took police eight days to start. "they didn't say anything after they watched the video. they just copied it and said it was confidential. i thought they would try to find my child with the video, but i never heard anything for two months." the police in this case did not respond to our request for comment. wouldn't it be easier just to hear -- so, we talked to the man in charge of stopping human trafficking in china. he listened to the allegations but wouldn't talk about specific cases. "generally speaking, people who report trafficking cases won't be treated like this," he told me. "few cases you have told me were

not according to procedure." he says there are over 2,000 children and women trafficked every year. the u.s. state department, though, estimates the number of women and children trafficked every year in china is between 10,000 and 20,000, and an official with the u.n. tells cnn that based on anecdotal evidence alone the chinese government numbers seem low. and in 2005, the committee on the rights of the child concluded that those official numbers refer almost exclusively to women and children rescued rather than those abducted. chen disputes those numbers saying they're little more than a guess, preferring to talk about changes to police procedure. "there were cases with no witnesses or security video available. police officers can help look for the missing child and investigate, but the case wasn't treated as a crime. but now they're all treated as crimes." chen told me police had launched regular nationwide crackdowns

with rescued babies shown on state-run television. there's a new most wanted list of the country's worst traffic efforts. 11 out of 20, he says, have been arrested. but the parents of missing children say the biggest problem of all is those who buy children are not punish prod viding the child hasn't been mistreated. and the parents told me until that law is changed there will always be a market and traffickers eager to do business. john vause, cnn, beijing. >> what a story. after angry disruptions at town hall meetings and her own criticism, sarah palin now says it's time to keep it civil when discussing president obama's health care proposal. and tracking drug smugglers from the air. now drones are now helping fight the nation's drug war and making some surprising findings. it's a situation room investigation. free nights from hotels.com. how? well, funny you should ask.

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after an angry protest at a health care reform event, sarah palin is now calling on demonstrators to be polite. let's talk about it with two cnn political contributors, democratic strategist james carville and radio talk show host bill bennett. she says this in her latest facebook posting, jay. what do you think about her apparent change in tone? an earlier facebook posting basically called the president's proposals evil. >> right. and she's talked about death panels, i think. and i'm not sure i would like to hear directly from her what exactly she's talking about, that people are sort of screaming and interrupting people. doesn't seem to be very clear on

that, and we're waiting for some clarification there from the former governor of alaska on that point, i think. >> i think what she was trying to say in her earlier posting, bill, was that if obama's health care plans went into effect, she's worried that her elderly parents or her son who has down syndrome could be in danger. >> yeah. well, her comments are -- except as a citizen are irrelevant. she's not in charge. she's not giving orders or directions. this is a distraction. the media loves to focus on sarah palin. she's not running anything. what's happening is that in these town hall meetings a lot of americans, not republicans, not conservatives, a lot of elderly people, people from all political stripes are cominging to and they're asking tough questions. and the interesting thing is a lot of liberals and democrats are saying how dare you be like this? i mean, this is unbelievable given what democrats and liberals have done over eight years during the bush administration. but the forums take place, of

course people should be polite and civil. but if people get a little angry it's okay, it's america, address the grievances, let it rip, let's have a good, full discussion. >> what's wrong with that, james? >> i don't know that so much is wrong but i would point out she is a significant person. she was a vice presidential nominee for the republican party in 2008, house speaker newt gingrich was one of the front-runners, former speaker of the house, echoed her so-called concerns about her fictional death panels or whatever they are. so, these are not minor characters in the republican party. these are actual heavyweights of that party. but i do agree people ought to be able to come out and express their opinion, but like the guy who had the opinion, tell his government to get its hands off my medicare, something is missing there. there's a missing link in some of these people. if you're going to have opinions -- >> look, the issue -- the issue -- the issues are legitimate that she raises. of course the issues that newt

gingrich raises are legitimate. the issues that citizens are forming. the discussion you had with the congressman and the doctor is what's going on all over the country. got fairly heated, fairly intense. we're talking about taking over one-sixth of the nation's economy. i'd like to quote president obama from last september when he said to followers, argue with them, get in their faces, this is important. it is important. civility, candor, goodwill, fine, this is very important, but i'm glad people are turning out. >> want to keep the government out of medicare, i'll tell you that. a very important priority here. >> well, the argument is that under one of the -- the cbo estimates, and i think the president supports this, they would cut over the next ten years $500 billion from medicare, and so some elderly are saying why are you cutting from medicare in order to pay for health insurance for a lot of other folk who is don't have it right now? james, you've heard those debates. >> yeah. and you hear this argument as

far as the moneys being applied to other places and the other part of the cbo hasn't been scored and there are about three or four things people say in rebuttal to that, if you will. but the truth of the matter is medicare is a very popular program. i think the only thing is the united states leads the world in its life expectancy after 65 and 99% of the health care people are over 65 they met gete from medicare. it's a good program, a popular program. obviously, people are going to be looking at it. i think secretary is right. you can't expect to have something like this without debate. but again, it would be better if people knew a little bit more about what they were talking about. >> on this issue of medicare, bill, there's no doubt there's a lot of waste in medicare right now and probably a lot of fraud over billing, needless procedures, all that kind of stuff where you could save hundreds of billions of dollars. >> yeah. there's definitely problems, wolf, definitely a lot of waste, definitely a lot of inefficiencies, and we need to fix a lot of what's wrong with

the health care system. but james made an interesting point. we've got the greatest health care system in the world, particularly people over 65. they're nervous when you say you're going to overhaul it. and barack obama's got himself in a box by saying we're going to insure 45 million new people, we're not going to increase taxes, how are we going to pay for it? the cbo which james cited said it's going to add an incredible amount to the deficit. this is the box. people like their health care. they're more worried about the deficit. >> if i can just -- >> can't square into -- >> very quickly. >> i never said we had the greatest health care system in the world because i don't believe that. i believe the only -- >> we do. >> -- the only part -- >> who's is better? whose is better? >> by the way, we spend twice as much on gdp than -- >> what country? name one. >> many countries. >> name one. >> much better. canada gets much better outcomes than we do, by far, not even close. >> oh, my gosh. why are those huge -- let me say

something. let me say something. >> all right. go ahead. >> can i get the last word? why do they have these huge clinics in plattsburg, new york, and other border towns canadians stream into to use? because the health care is so great in canada? i don't think so. >> james will be back in the next hour. we'll continue this conversation. bill bennett, thanks for joining us. good discussion. collision over the hudson. police release tapes of those 911 calls from that deadly crash between a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane. and a mistake by a translator overseas gives us some insight into hillary clinton's feelings.

let's check back with jack for "the cafferty file." jack? >> the question this hour, house speaker nancy pelosi, congressman stenni hoyer say protests against health care reform are un-american. are they? mike writes -- rita writes from florida --

ron in florida writes -- president obama was elected because of his agenda, which is the people's agenda. lynn in oklahoma city -- i'll tell you why. because she knows it's -- bev in new york --

none of them has read the plan as evidenced by how fast the euthanasia rumor got around. even the alaskan quitter was willing to repeat that. jim in colorado -- if you didn't see your e-mail here, go to my blog at cnn.com/caffertyfile, look for yours there among hundreds of others. wolf? >> will do, jack. thank you. cnn's ali velshi is taking the pulse of health care reform on a road trip aboard the cnn express. he's joining us now. where are you, ali? >> reporter: wolf, we're in chattanooga, tennessee, next to the tennessee river, where we have been talking to people about health care. we're trying to get an unfiltered response from americans. pulling up on a road from atlanta all the way to des moines, iowa. we'll get there friday or saturday. we're stopping in towns along the way to ask people what they want of their health care

system. here are some of the responses we've had just on our first day. >> i want to be able to afford the best care that i can for myself and my children. >> i want to see my own doctors. >> i want to pick my own doctors and everything else instead of being assigned one. >> if we can just take care of that, then i would be pretty happy. >> i want my health care to be affordable, at a reasonable cost. >> i'm not going to go to the emergency room every time i get a cough or cold. i'm worried about the big illnesses that can really bankrupt a family. >> i don't want to settle for less than the best, if our life is at stake. >> reporter: health care costs are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in this country so obviously, affordability is a big issue. quality and access, those are big issues, too, that we're hearing from people. but the one that we're hearing about which is really what's playing out at these town hall meetings is the issue of choice. we had people, as you just heard, telling us they don't

want someone making decisions for them about what doctor to see, what type of treatment they get. the reality is that even americans who are insured today have those choices imposed upon them. they have a lack of choice in some cases but there's definitely a sense that this government option, this publicly funded option, could reduce people's choices and that's part of what we want to flush out through the course of the week. we will talk to people in tennessee, kentucky, illinois, missouri, kansas and iowa when we get there. we will keep bringing information to you about what they're saying. >> we'll check in with you tomorrow as well. thanks very much. a new weapon in the war on drugs. watching smugglers from the sky. is it paying off? we will show you. also, reaching for the sky. an unusual fund-raiser to tell you about. stick around. so what do you think? i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke.

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>> very cool. good luck. happening now, breaking news. divers find another crash victim in the hudson river, and the plane that collided with the sightseeing helicopter, only on cnn, mary snow takes us along on the search that is slow, dark and very dangerous. and it looks like a video game but it's a deadly serious weapon against drug smugglers on the southern border. deborah feyerick gets rare access to a predator catching thousands of suspects by surprise. i'm wolf blitzer at cnn's command center for breaking news, politics and extraordinary reports from around the world. reports from around the world. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com up first this hour, breaking news. an important discovery in the choppy, treacherous hudson river. divers have found the body of an adult male inside sunken wreckage. so far, they haven't been able

to remove the remains from the private plane that collided with a sightseeing helicopter over the weekend. nine people were killed. seven bodies have been recovered. this would be the eighth. just a short while ago, authorities released 911 phone calls reporting the crash that turned an italian couple's anniversary into a tragedy. >> let's go to cnn's mary snow. she's got a report you will see only here on cnn. you've been following this risky dive, the search for survivors, for remains, if you will, right now. what are you finding? >> reporter: these divers are facing very low visibility, strong currents along with having to watch out for debris. the nypd scuba unit has been in

the water for three days, making over 30 dives. earlier today, we got a first-hand look at their recovery efforts. the chief of the nypd special operations division takes us out into the middle of the hudson, where the department's divers are focusing their search. >> we're looking for some parts of the plane that we caught on the sonar. we believe it's the outer skin of the aircraft. >> reporter: new york city police divers go under in teams of two. at approximately 10:45 a.m., a team goes in. they remain attached to the boat with an anchor line. approximately three minutes later, the divers have reached roughly 60 feet below us. to get a sense of how murky the hudson is, we put an underwater camera into the river along the shoreline so you can see what it looks like about two feet away in shallow water, enough to see your hand. but here in the middle of the river, the visibility is about six inches, sometimes worse.

after being under for roughly ten minutes, the divers again emerge. as they debrief the rest of their team, the chief updates us and tells us the current is a problem. >> it's definitely the aircraft. how much of it still needs to be determined, because it's so swift, we can't do the assessment of the debris that we want to right now. >> reporter: the current will keep divers out of the water for several hours, and the two detectives who just went into the hudson are able to talk to us. how close are you guys to each other when you're down there? >> just like this. pretty much right on top of each other. >> reporter: you each have one hand on -- >> the upright which is up at the zodiac, the black boats that are out there. they're holding it tight for us so we have a nice strong line so we don't get pushed off whatever we hooked into. >> pretty much we're holding on to that line. if anything happens, we let go of that line, we'll be pretty much lost down there. >> reporter: these divers say while six inches may not seem like a lot, they consider it a

good amount in these conditions, since they'll be able to see their air gauges. it's an improvement from the zero visibility they had at the start of the day. wolf, several hours later after we left those divers, conditions improved, visibility, we're told was three feet, and the currents weren't as strong. just before 3:30 this afternoon, the nypd divers entered the wreckage of the private plane, discovered a body inside the wreckage and as you pointed out, they have been unable as yet to remove that body. >> mary, stand by. we're learning more about how the deadly crash could have happened. it turns out that in the busy air space over new york city, there are places where it is essentially every pilot for himself or herself. we're joined by the national transportation safety board chair. we are going to go to her in a moment. let's get some background from our internet reporter, abbi tatton. she's here in "the situation room." this is a complex story, where these pilots can fly over new york city. >> reporter: it's a complicated air space.

there are three major airports there but on top of that, pilots operate under different rules, depending on how high they're flying. let's take you through what we're talking about here in new york city. taking you down to the area along manhattan, along the hudson river here. what we've done is we've mapped out the altitude of 1100 feet, because that's important. above 1100 feet, pilots must be checking in with air traffic control. these are -- these could be commercial pilots, these could be smaller aircraft as well, but they're all under the jurisdiction of the air traffic controllers that are operating in those airports around the city. underneath 1100 feet, then it's a different story. this is a congested area. this is sea planes, small aircraft could be there, helicopters, private aircraft, single engine aircraft, all down here, and they are not under the jurisdiction of the air traffic controllers. each pilot is controlling the air space that he's in, looking

out for other pilots, and it's a busy area. in the last week or so, on average, 225 aircraft per day are going up and down this area. >> interesting. let's get an explanation for this complex rule from debbie hurseman, head of the national transportation safety board. why this complicated situation above and below 1100 feet? >> well, we know that the faa put these exclusions zones together in the early '70s. basically, there's a lot of busy air space around new york city and new jersey. there's three large commercial airports, we've got teterboro with a lot of business jets and there are a number of other smaller airports in the area. it's very complex space. these exclusion zones were set up to allow vfr operations outside that class b air space. class b air space, you can't enter that without being under the direct control of atc.

>> you're going to have to make a recommendation when you complete your investigation. is it possible you might say let's take another look at these rules that have been part of the game in new york for 70 years? >> well, the rules have been in place since the 1970s and we did actually take another look, you probably remember our investigation of the corey lyttle action that took place in manhattan and we looked at the east river exclusion zone after that october 2006 accident. the safety board made a recommendation to prohibit fixed wing aircraft that were nonamphibious from operating in that air space without being under positive control from air traffic controllers. the faa actually took our recommendation, issued a notice to airmen forbidding fixed wing aircraft from transiting the fixed wing nonamphibious

aircraft from transiting the river without being under air traffic control. >> abbi, tell our viewers what it's like for these pilots flying below 1100 feet along the hudson river in this area of new york city. >> they're relying on two things. we can show you here with the graphics we made. one of them is a common radio frequency that they are advised to get on. they're advised to get on there and state their flight path, their altitude, so they can hear where other pilots are operating and they can state themselves where they are going. the other thing, it's simple. see and avoid. it's literally using their eyes, using visual contact around them just to see where the other aircraft are. using that to check their blind spots. it's been likened to a highway where you're traveling along and just seeing which other vehicles or in this case, planes and helicopters are around you. >> let's go back to debbie hersman. is it realistic, i have this image of a pilot sticking his or her head out of the window to

see what is happening around the little plane if it's flying below 1100 feet. is that an image that is real ifk? >> well, it's obviously very crowded air space. there are 225 aircraft per day operating in this three-mile radius around the accident site based on some averages of the last week's traffic. you do need to pay attention but one of the things that we are looking at is letters of agreement between let's say tour operators and the faa and basically, they establish some rules of the road for these operations there. the helicopter operations basically have told us that they operate southbound going towards the statue of liberty on the jersey side of the river at a particular altitude. they stay a half mile away from statue of liberty, then they come back north on the new york side of the river. so they kind of have some rules of the road, but what we need to

understand is what pilots who operate here regularly understand, and pilots who don't operate here regularly, maybe newcomers to the air space, what they know. we know there's a common frequency, that frequency is not controlled by faa air traffic controllers. they're not directing people about what to do when they're in that space. they can monitor it but it's not recorded by the faa so we have a lot of work still to do to try to understand this air space, and people who are being handed off as this pilot was that left from teterboro, he was being handed off from teterboro air traffic control to newark air traffic control so he wasn't necessarily on that common frequency. >> good luck with the investigation, debbie hersman from the national transportation safety board. appreciate it very much. the loved ones of the nine people who were killed are now in agony. the victims include 49-year-old daniel altman, brother to

stephen altman. he was a prominent name in pennsylvania real estate, to be sure. daniel's 16-year-old son douglas was also killed. also, the pilot of the helicopter, 32-year-old jeremy clarke worked for the tour company for about 18 months. as for the five italian tourists, one was a 15-year-old boy. he was with his parents, a father, 49 years old and a mother, 44 years old. also killed, a 51-year-old man with his 16-year-old son. our deepest condolences to those families. let's check in with jack cafferty right now for "the cafferty file." jack? >> at long last, we may start getting some answers but don't hold your breath. the obama administration reportedly might be getting ready to launch a criminal investigation into the cia's treatment of detainees during the bush years. the "los angeles times" reports attorney general eric holder is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to look into the alleged abuses of terror

suspects. one justice department official says it would be a narrow investigation, focused on whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized in bush era memos. some say criminal convictions would be hard to come by because the quality of the evidence is poor and this stuff has never been tested legally. a prosecutor could potentially investigate waterboarding. 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed reportedly waterboarded 183 times in one month. also, there are reports of prisoners being threatened with bodily harm, being buried alive and threatened with a gun during interrogations. president obama has left the door open for prosecution of those who broke the law. both the president and holder say they believe that waterboarding is torture. the real question is whether the administration will go after top bush officials who may have authorized this stuff or just set out to prosecute those who carried out the orders.

want to bet which way that goes? here's the question. should the obama administration launch a criminal investigation of cia treatment of detainees? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. you can post a comment on my blog. wolf? >> thank you, jack. the debate over health care reform has turned into a shouting match. >> don't come and take advantage of what these individuals have done. you want a meeting with me on health care, i'll give it to you. >> we saw what happened when a congressman and a doctor faced off at a town hall meeting. wait until you hear what happened when the two of them got together here in "the situation room." also ahead, president obama admits he can't have it all. what he's willing to give up to try to get health care reform. and u.s. gunships go after roadside bombs and we're along for the very wild ride. >> hit the guy on the road.

hit the guy on the road. >> roger. >> you got the guy on the side. >> roger. >> okay. >> y a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. cool. you know this scale is off by a good 7, 8 pounds. maybe five. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

the health care debate is heating up. a congressman is questioned and winds up screaming at his questioner. did he have a public meltdown? listen to the congressman's answer after he was asked if he'll vote on a health care package that the questioner claimed would not work.

>> i'm not voting on any plan. first of all, i haven't voted on any bill. >> are you planning on voting on that bill? >> i don't know. >> yes, i do. i'm listening to my constituents, okay? these are people who live in the 13th congressional district, who vote in this district. that's who i've got to respond to. okay? all right. that's everybody with different opinions. so what you've got to understand is those of you are here who have taken and came and hijacked this event that we're dealing with here, this is not a health care event. you made the choice to come here. >> the congressman was democrat david scott of georgia, and the questioner was dr. brian hill,

also of georgia. i spoke with both men today. >> congressman, he is your constituent. he's a physician. he asked a simple question. i will paraphrase the question, we will get your answer, do you support this public option, this public health insurance agency that would compete with the private health insurance companies. >> and i answered that question yes, i do. every question he asked, i said yes. >> i said why. why. >> you said -- well -- >> why do you support that plan and i want to hear a good, educated response. not talking points. >> okay. let me answer it for you now. >> great. >> i genuinely believe, doctor, that the big problem in this is the insurance company and the pricing system that is there. they like competition. they have a monopoly on it. we need reform of an option that would force some competition while at the same time providing an opportunity for those who the

insurance company might not want to take, with having an opportunity. my final point is this. >> how do we have a monopoly when there are multiple insurance agencies out there? again, you're not even talking about how that is going to decrease costs. you're just doing talking points. you're talking about a government subsidized option i have already looked at, we have already talked about, we looked at data, looked at facts, i talked about the massachusetts health care plan. we can talk about canada, we can talk about europe. we can talk intelligently but i want to hear facts and numbers and data and figures. >> may i answer you, please? >> please do that. yes. i would love to have an answer. >> you very eloquently explained the complexities of this issue, the fact you wanted data and all that information. you live in the district and you're a physician. why not take the time to call your congressman, set up an appointment to come in where we can lay all of this out for you? rather than come on in a very -- the video didn't show the

raucusness -- >> because the whole video -- >> listen my friend, that was not for health care. that was the issue that rubs. this is for people whose homes are impacted by a rogue that's coming through to destroy them. >> talking 300 million americans. 300 million americans are going to be impacted by this health care plan. i agree, it's important. i won't talk over you, sorry. >> all i'm simply saying, doctor, and i don't want to talk over you, i want to make clear that on the tape when i was saying don't come in and take advantage of what these folks have done. that's what i said. >> how? >> because i owed it to them to stand up for them and respect the hard work they put for this, their homes are going to be affected and destroyed, businesses, and this african-american community who has expressed a desire and a feeling of being disenfranchised. here you all come, taking advantage of that on a very controversial, complex issue

that you know and i know full well is going to take for more deliberation. >> after that conversation, congressman scott says he'll have a health care forum this weekend in his district in georgia, and he's even invited dr. hill not only to participate, but also to join him for a beer. a mistake overseas leads to a touchy response by hillary clinton as her husband moves back into the spotlight. and a powerful earthquake shakes japan, rattling buildings in tokyo and sparking tsunami fears. plus, how american authorities keep a high tech eye on drug smugglers along the mexican border. >> it is a video game but the difference is there's 185 aircraft on the end. >> that's worth $10 million.

bet ychldguyen is monitoring other important stories incoming to "the situation room." >> a very powerful earthquake has struck japan and was felt strongly in tokyo. there are no reports of damage and about that same time, a 7.6

magnitude quake struck in the indian ocean. that resulting in tsunami watch that has just been canceled. we're keeping an eye on all of this for you. in the meantime, the long-awaited coroner's report on michael jackson is finished but the singer's death will remain a mystery at least for now. the coroner's office says los angeles police are asking them to keep the report under wraps because of their own ongoing investigation. charges are still possible in the case. police have searched the home and office of a doctor who was with jackson when he died on june 25th. sad news to report here. after frantic efforts to save a beached whale and her baby, both of them did not survive. the pair beached themselves this afternoon near miami. beach goers tried to push them back out into the sea but just could not. the mother died at the scene and the baby had to be euthanized. they tried. it just didn't work. >> sad story in miami. thanks, betty.

zeroing in in afghanistan. >> looks like he's placing something in there. >> running a wire. >> a wire. >> we're engaging. >> stand by for some dramatic gunship video and what the pentagon is getting out of it. they won a lottery to be guinea pigs. we will meet some of the people testing out a new swine flu vaccine. this is the aarp...

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now to the front lines of america's war against taliban fighters. a senior u.s. official tells cnn the administration now believes the taliban chief in pakistan is indeed dead, killed by a cia missile strike. in afghanistan, u.s. forces are scoring dramatic hits against taliban insurgents and their deadly roadside bombs. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, who's here with us. we have some remarkable gunship video that the pentagon is releasing. walk us through this. >> what we're going to see is video from a helicopter gun camera and what happens after officials say the 82nd combat

air brigade saw two insurgents setting up ieds along a road in southern afghanistan. take a look. >> call out my gun target line. >> roger. [ inaudible ] one east, one in the hole. >> what we're going to do, we're going to wait until he goes back to his buddies, then we'll try to hit them all. we're going to gauge these individuals. currently observe one individual, back out the hole right now. looks like he's placing something in there. >> he's running a wire. >> a wire. >> we're engaging. >> roger. you're clear to go ahead and shoot. >> roger. we have everything we need. these guys are in place. we just watched them run a wire. >> all right, roger that. >> rolling in. >> hit the guy on the road. hit the guy on the road. >> roger, hit the guy on the road. >> we're hitting the guy on the road. you guys got the guy on the side. >> roger. >> you're clear to fire.

>> fire. >> that's fine. try to acquire the buddies. >> pretty dramatic video. give us some perspective, these ieds, how much damage are they inflicting on u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> well, a military task force found that last year, there were about 3,500 bombs used in afghanistan, and that was twice as many as the year before. in fact, bombs in afghanistan are now causing a higher rate of casualties among american troops and their allies as the bombs in iraq. they're also the leading cause of civilian deaths among the afghan people. some of the reasons are afghanistan has a lot of desolate areas that are surrounded by mountains, gives the insurgents more time and space to plant them, a lot of dirt roads gives them easier way to camouflage the bombs. >> that was dramatic, dramatic video. chris, thanks very much. shocking images from a

bloody drug war. president obama in mexico today renewing his commitment to fighting the drug cartels. here's one way he's doing that. it's america's secret weapon against drug smugglers on the border, tracking them 24/7. deborah feyerick is looking at this in depth. you went to arizona to watch this high tech operation unfold. tell our viewers what you saw. >> reporter: well, this is a high tech tool normally used to gather intelligence. it has helped stop tens of thousands of pounds of drugs from coming into the u.s. it's the middle of the night and this unmanned surveillance plane, the predator b, is about to take off. >> up to